


From Rival to Confidant

by OmnipresentNuance



Category: The Loud House (Cartoon)
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Relationship Issues, Relationship Problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25228021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmnipresentNuance/pseuds/OmnipresentNuance
Summary: Lori comes home earlier than anticipated from a trip to Great Lakes City were it is believed something awful happened between her and Bobby. While trying to unravel whatever has left her so devastated, she receives consolation from her siblings. But perhaps soon enough, her greatest source of comfort may come as a result of an impromptu visit from her newest best friend.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	From Rival to Confidant

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, how do and everything assorted with that. Three days removed from my last posting and that is also how long it took me to write this. Again, the miracle of not having too much of a social life mixed in with a devotion unlike any other for this.
> 
> So happy to get this one out as I've been longing to do something involving Carol for a long time now. Fewer things get me more giddy with regards to Loud House fan works of all varieties than anything between her and Lori, friendship and most certainly well beyond that (well, besides anything between Lincoln and his older sisters in addition obviously). That's not a spoiler for what you're about to read though, just to be clear. Just only wanted to vocalize my adoration for those two together and being able to contribute in my own way. :)
> 
> Speaking of reading, go forth and hopefully enjoy!
> 
> The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.

The late afternoon sun reached its crest and the transition to evening would come in a little over an hour's time.

On such a picturesque occasion, Lincoln was walking home from a nice day out with friends, nothing more, nothing less.

But as he made the approach to the vicinity of his home, something stuck out to him as a curiosity. He noticed Vanzilla parked on the driveway.

Typically, there wouldn't be any reason to find the Loud family's veteran mode of transportation parked in its designated spot on the property to be all that unusual. However, it was the circumstances of today that changed the equation in this instance.

Earlier in the morning, Lincoln knew Lori had planned on going to Great Lakes City to visit Bobby for the day. Given that she left around 9:00 in the morning and drive to and from the city was three hours each way, plus adding in whatever Lori was going to do there, it was assumed at best she'd return home by about 6:00 PM or at worst maybe even stay overnight and return home the next morning.

With all that in mind, that is what made Vanzilla's apparent return now all the more puzzling to Lincoln. He checked the time and it was currently just a little past 4:45 PM. Again, he thought the original plan Lori had on deck was either coming home by early on in the evening or the next morning. His only guess as to why she possibly was home sooner is perhaps whatever she had planned out for the day between her and Bobby was cut short and thus resulted her arriving home earlier than anticipated.

No matter the reasoning, Lincoln was curious to find out. He traveled up the walkway leading to his house, up to the front porch and opened the door.

"Hey, I'm home! Gotta ask, did Lori come back home…"

Midway through speaking though, Lincoln stopped when he saw all his sisters gathered around the couch and right in the middle of it sat Lori.

"Lori?" Lincoln inquired to her.

Right away, two very concerning details stood to him. Her eyes dripped in tears and damp mascara. Additionally, and potentially more frighteningly, she also had on her "Bobby sweater". The one sweater she puts on any time there's difficulties between her and Bobby. But Lincoln also distinctly remembers one time that caused one particular rift that he initiated. Realizing something, he gasped and widened his eyes.

"Oh no...Lori, did Bobby break up with you because I said something stupid about Ronnie Anne? I don't remember if I did in any recent phone or video calls with her, but if I did, I'm so sorry! I can call her right away and apologize and then…"

"Whoa, hey, hey, hey, chill out, bro. Nothing like that's happened, at least we don't think so." Luna said, waving her hand around.

"No? Then what's going on?" Lincoln asked following an uneasy sigh.

"We don't actually know entirely. Lori came back home suddenly not too long ago before you arrived yourself and she's been a complete wreck ever since." Lynn answered.

"Yeah, and at first time the minute that she did come back home, she ran straight up the stairs and into her room. We had to coax her out and tried talking to her, but she's not really said much in that time." Lucy added.

"That's unfortunately been the case. But like Luna just mentioned, we really don't think it has anything to with you or Ronnie Anne, Lincoln. I think she would've said something by now if that was it." Luan reemphasized, "But at the same time, something really bad must have happened between her and Bobby for her to be like this."

Though he was at least relieved there didn't appear to be anything to suggest culpability on his end, that still didn't make Lincoln entirely better. His oldest sister clearly has been devastated by something relating to Bobby and wished to learn more. Carefully, he approached her more closely.

"Lori...what happened? I…"

Instead of giving Lincoln a chance to finish, Lori yanked him right into her arms and squeezed him tightly like he was her own personal white-haired teddy bear, all while she let another series of teary sobs escape from her.

"Lori...I get...that you're...sad...but I don't...think...depriving me of...oxygen...is gonna help." Lincoln strained out.

"Eldest sister, I'd advise you follow our only male sibling's request in not limiting his supply of atomic number eight." Lisa suggested urgently.

"Yeah, and I don't think he can breathe, either!" Leni added.

It took additional encouragement and even a little bit of a physical struggle, but Lincoln was eventually freed from that sudden grip of Lori's. He sat down on the floor and took a moment to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry, Lincoln…" Lori said softly, amounting among the only words she's spoken since coming home, "And I'm sorry, guys...but I can't deal right now…"

Still sobbing more, she sat up and promptly made a break back upstairs, the door to her room being heard slamming shut.

"Wait up, Lori!" Leni shouted, following her sister just about as soon as she bolted.

With their two oldest sisters having left them, Lincoln joined with the remainder of his sisters in and around the couch by sitting in the same spot Lori just occupied.

"Guys, are you sure none of you have any idea at all why Lori's so upset?" He asked them full of worry.

"We really and truly don't know, Lincoln. Again though, we can only speculate it has something potentially bad revolving around Bobby. She would not be wearing the sweater that he got for her if that wasn't the case." Luan said.

Following some sighs and mixed comments of lamentation, everyone sat in collective silence and despair while holding out some hope that Leni might be trying to have better luck in dealing with Lori.

However, the silence was interrupted when a notification sound effect caught everyone's attention.

"Huh?" Lana muttered, but something caught her eye on the couch, "Hey, I think that came from Lori's phone. She must have left it there when she ran off just now."

Indeed, Lori's phone laid there on the couch just right next to where Lincoln was sitting.

"Looks like she's gotten a text." He observed.

"By who?" Lynn asked.

"I think the 'who' in this case is pretty obvious, LJ." Luna replied.

"Should we check it out?" Luan wondered.

"I don't know. Would Lori really like it if she knew we looked around on her phone?" Lucy posited.

"But it's right here with us now and given how upset she is now, I doubt she'd come down on us too hard if we did. Plus, as Luna implied, I think we all know who it is and if we do check out that text, maybe we can get some better insight as to what's happened." Lincoln said.

Although there were understandably unsure and indecisive looks and sentiments about doing such a thing by his sisters, the desperation in finding the cause of Lori's distressed mood presently overrode the potential consequences any one of them plus Lincoln could come their way for violating their eldest sister's digital privacy, if any at all.

Taking the phone into his hands, Lincoln tapped open the texting app and checked the recently sent text. His sisters huddled closer around him to see the contents of text themselves. Right from the very first word, they got all the confirmation they needed to know it was from Bobby.

_Babe, I don't know how you're feeling or if you're in the mood to talk, so I thought I send you this. If this is truly how you feel after today, then maybe it's for the best that we keep to ourselves for a while. Here's hoping things will get better, but if not...well...we'll see._

As if the mood couldn't get any lower for the present group of siblings. Whatever had occurred between Lori and Bobby, it had lead him to believe at best they needed to not speak to one another for an indeterminate amount of time or at worst even contemplate the unthinkable.

"Wait...is this a break-up text?" Lola asked as her world class temper was rising, "Why that lousy no good…!"

"Whoa, calm down, Lola. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves." Lincoln advised her.

"Indeed, I agree with our brotherly familial until here. Though I would find it most lamentable should Bobby really be implying even slightly of the severance of his romantic bond with our eldest sister, we cannot let our emotions overtake thinking this too irrationally. I shall reference for instance the occasion when we jumped the gun as some on the street would say when we all wrongly make bold on the idea he was two-timing behind Lori's back." Lisa articulated.

"Yeah, I gotta say you're nailing it, Lis. It's not like the Bobsled is straight up saying he and Lori are heading for Splitsville. He's just saying they might need to give some time to themselves. Not that it would make this sitch any less dreary or anything like that, though…" Luna added somberly.

"I know, right? We know Lori speaks of Bobby in the highest terms and same goes in his case for her in whatever times we've been around him. But what happened that lead him to say they need time to themselves and even give the slightest idea of splitting up if worst comes to worst? Did that have some really awful fight or something like that?" Lynn speculated.

"I have no clue at all and again, you guys don't know any better as you've said." Lincoln brought up, "But I do think what needs to be done next."

With his sister's phone at hand, he got off from the couch and headed for the stairs.

"What are you doing, Lincoln?" Lucy asked.

"I think Lori really needs to see this. Plus, she probably would want her phone back pronto no matter what." Lincoln explained.

"But is it really the best time for her to know? She might get totally heartbroken, you know…" Luan said.

"I know that could very well happen, Luan. But I think that's a risk which needs to be taken in order to find out what went down and hopefully that we can all try to make her feel better." Lincoln said.

Having laid bare his intentions, he went up the stairs.

Meanwhile in the time all of that took place and inside their bedroom, Leni held Lori in her arms as the latter had continued in pouring out her emotions. She really hadn't had any better luck on an individual basis in unearthing what caused her sister's sadness any more than her siblings as a collective group tried in doing. In lieu of any possible revealing of such, all Leni could really do was simply be by Lori's side and give whatever comfort she can.

In a little bit more time, a knocking on the door caught Leni's attention.

"Hold on, I'll be right back, Lori." She said.

She gently let go of her older sister and went over to the door. Opening it, she saw Lincoln standing by.

"Lincoln? What is it?" Leni asked.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, Leni, but is it possible I can show Lori something?" Lincoln wondered.

"I don't know. I'm sorry, but I get this feeling that maybe she's not in the mood to see anyone else right now."

"Wait, no...it's okay, Leni. Let him in."

That soft, teary voice coming from Lori did come as a surprise to Leni. Nevertheless, she opened the door further and allowed their brother inside.

"Hey, Lori…" Lincoln said as he approached her, "How's it going?"

"Well...I can't literally sugarcoat things and try to say they're good as you've no doubt seen from me." Lori responded, chuckling in spite of her sad disposition, "But anyway, if I heard correctly, there was something you wanted to show me?"

"Yeah...first let me say you left your phone downstairs and I wanted to give it back to you. However, something on your phone is the very thing I thought you needed to see because myself and our sisters downstairs already took a look at it, which I'm also hoping you won't get real upset at us for doing so." Lincoln said.

"Well, yeah, normally I wouldn't be too pleased I learned anyone was looking at my phone without my knowledge." Lori admitted, letting out a long sigh, "But with all that's happened recently, I can't really bring myself to get too up in arms over it at this time. With that said, what's needed to be shown to me?"

"It's a text message from Bobby. I'd read it out myself, but I think you need to see it for yourself." Lincoln said.

He handed over the phone back to Lori and she took it into her hands. She looked over the text and so did Leni when she came back over as she hadn't seen it herself.

As she saw the text, Leni gasped and almost seemed on the verge of tears herself. But perhaps what was more surprising to Lincoln was how Lori reacted or a lack thereof. She still had tears shimmering in her eyes, yet she didn't start openly sobbing again or anything else in related terms. In fact, when she finished reading the text, all she did next was simply put her phone to the side.

"Well...I can't really blame him for thinking that's how it should be…" She said almost devoid of emotion.

Thick, uneasy silence took over the room for several seconds. It was shocking to both Leni and Lincoln that their sister was so casual in her reaction to Bobby's text. But before either one of them could finally speak up, Lori did instead.

"Guys, can I be left alone for now?"

"What? But why?" Leni asked.

"I just...I just want to be okay? I appreciate the concern, but I really need this right now." Lori said with great underscoring.

"But Lori, can't you please tell us what's going on? I hate to see you like this and hurts me inside." Lincoln said as he had difficult keeping a strong confident composure throughout.

"I know and I understand completely, Lincoln. But it's really complicated and difficult for me to still process." Lori explained, sighing again, "Maybe before the end of the night I'll finally come clean and tell everything. I know that sounds like a weak promise without a strong guarantee, but it's better than nothing."

After saying that, she moved a little closer away from her bed and brought Lincoln into a hug, certainly one much gentler than the one she squeezed him in minutes earlier and in her effort to try in giving him some slight amount of reassurance. A few seconds in, Leni also added herself into the mix, putting her arms around both.

Eventually, they all parted and out of reluctance, Leni and Lincoln respected Lori's wish in leaving her alone.

As they exited the room and she closed the door, Leni looked down at Lincoln and saw just how sad he'd become. She had to know it absolute tore him up inside to see Lori be so upset and yet still not be forthcoming entirely about what it was that lead her to be that way.

What compounded Leni's concerns for her brother came in the form of what she believed was a low whimpering sound coming from him. In an instant, she hugged him for a moment.

"She's gonna be okay, Lincoln, I promise…"

She let him go and then they both headed back downstairs to rejoin with the rest of their sisters.

Back inside her room, Lori stared practically blankly over and over again at Bobby's text message. Again, like she said in front of Leni and Lincoln, she felt this might be the natural next step in the aftermath of the horrible events that came about today, at least the portion about keeping to themselves for some sort of period of time. She hoped however with every fiber of her being that the secondary ambiguous yet more inauspicious statement that insinuated a potential separation isn't going to come close to true. But given the severity of the events which transpired hours earlier, even she couldn't write it off entirely, no matter how small the odds.

Her staring at the text came to an abrupt halt when Lori got a sudden startle as her phone started ringing. She yelped, collected her senses briefly and checked to see who was calling. To her, it was quite the surprise. For a second she didn't think about picking up, but after a deep sigh and a wiping down of her eyes, she chose to answer.

"Hello?"

" _Hi there, Lori!_ "

The voice on the other line belonged to Carol Pingrey, someone who Lori wouldn't have imagined speaking to on a casual basis, let alone also having becoming friends with in recent times.

"Hi, Carol. I didn't imagine I'd be hearing from you at this moment." Lori admitted.

" _Hey, nothing wrong with a surprise phone call with your new bestie, right?"_ Carol said.

"I guess not…" Lori said, letting out a small chuckle that trailed into a pair of sniffles.

" _Yeah, and...wait, hold on, are you okay? You sound like you've been crying."_ Carol inquired.

"Unfortunately, yes...I can't exactly hide it." Lori conceded, leading to her feeling like she's quickly returning to the worst of her despair.

" _Well, what's going on?"_ Carol asked.

"I don't know if I want to talk about it, Carol, least not over the phone."

" _Are you sure? If there's something going on, I'm more than happy to lend an ear."_

"Really, I'm not sure if I want to…"

" _Lori, come on, please? I'd hate to either just have this call end or for us to just move on to a different topic with me now knowing you sound real sad."_

Lori didn't not have an immediate response, as she felt another small set of tears bubble up in her eyes. However, something she just said did give Carol an idea.

" _Listen, I'm actually within the neighborhood close to your house. Maybe I can come on over and you'd be more willing and comfortable to talk face-to-face instead. How about that?"_

At first, Lori again showed indecisiveness over what to say or if she would agree to that. However, with each passing second, she was starting to come around to the idea. There was actually something about talking it out with Carol in person that sounded a little easier than with her siblings, at least for the moment. Ultimately, that's what sealed it.

"Okay...I think I'll go for that." Lori said after several seconds of thought.

" _Oh, that's good to hear. I'll be right on over as soon as I can."_ Carol affirmed.

"All right...and actually, can I stipulate one little thing, Carol? Can we simply me up at the front porch of my house? I'm not really comfortable with the idea of you coming on inside with everything that's gone on with me." Lori said.

" _Sure, of course, I understand. Well, like I said, I'll be over soon, okay?"_ Carol again confirmed.

"Okay. See you then."

After that, Lori ended the call and signed. A little part of her still felt uneasy about revealing all to Carol when she did arrive. At the same time though, she knew that she cannot keep her issues and the pain that accompanied it locked inside for too much longer, lest she make things worse on her end.

Before the impending arrival of her friend, Lori chose to take care of a few things. First, she pulled off the sweater and took a good long look at it. This was one of the first things Bobby got for her within the first couple of weeks they had started dating and despite the ambiguous nature of wherever their relationship stood based on the day's events and his text, she didn't have the heart to do away with it. For now, she chose to put it inside her portion of the closet she shared with Leni.

Next, Lori went over the bathroom so she could wash her face of any remaining tears and dripping mascara, then dried it off afterward.

Once done with that, she glanced up at the mirror, took a deep breath and made the journey down the stairs. Her arrival at the bottom drew the immediate renewed concern from all her siblings who were still together in the living room.

"Lori! Are you doing any better?" Leni asked.

"I can't say for certain if I'm being honest…" Lori replied softly.

She kept on walking until she got up to the front door and opened it, which was a move that puzzled her siblings.

"Wait, where are you going, sis?" Luna asked.

"Just out to the front porch is all. I got done talking on the phone with Carol and she's coming for a talk with me since she is around the neighborhood." Lori explained.

She came close to stepping on out, but paused and looked back over to her siblings.

"Before I head out though, let me make this request to you. I know we tend to have a very bad habit of doing this, and Lincoln among all of us perhaps knows better than anyone, but I implore you guys to not snoop in or look through the window or anything like that when Carol does arrive. You can stay in the living room and do literally whatever else, but just don't listen in on what me and her are going to talk about. Can I hope for that?"

Luckily for her, each of her siblings gladly responded with varying mixed comments of assurances and respects for their oldest sister's request. In return, she gave them the smallest of smiles before stepping outside and closing the door.

Sighing a little again, Lori took a few steps until she decided to sit down on the top second step leading to the house and waited patiently for Carol's arrival. As time passed, she lowered her head down into her knees.

"Hey, Lori…"

A few minutes later, she lifted her head back up when she heard her name being addressed to see Carol coming right on up the walkway. She had a visible frown on her face seeing Lori the way she was while coming over and taking a seat next to her.

"Hey there, Carol…" Lori greeted in return.

She looked at her friend for a couple of seconds before decided to reach out for a hug, something Carol welcomed and reciprocated on her end.

"It's really good to see you." Lori said.

"Same here, Lori." Carol responded in agreement.

Their hug lasted a little bit before they both pulled back with Carol also sighing.

"Well...I'm here now, so might as well get straight to it. What's been going on?" She asked.

Lori leaned her head back, covered her face with her hands and let out a light groan. After that, she pulled her hands away and looked down.

"Okay...I'll tell you. But first I want to take a few steps back and ask you something."

She prepped herself up for the tough discussion ahead and looked back at Carol.

"Do you remember Bobby? Bobby Santiago?"

"Yeah, sure I do." Carol replied while nodding, "He's your boyfriend, right?"

"Yes, that is correct, he is...well, I mean, at least I hope he still is or will be." Lori said awkwardly.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Carol asked, a sense of confusion and worry filling inside of her.

"I'll get to that soon, but there's a little more to be said first." Lori assured, "Now, obviously you know that he doesn't live here in Royal Woods anymore, right?"

"Yeah. Where does he live now anyway? I don't actually know or remember if I'm being honest here."

"Oh, you don't? Well, he plus his mom and younger sister moved to Great Lakes City where a bunch of members of their extended family also live."

"Oh...well, I guess that clears everything up on that front. But that's secondary, because I'd really like to know what's gotten you so sad when we talked over the phone. Did it have something to do with Bobby?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Hang on, give me a moment here…"

Once again, it was getting hard for Lori to keep it all together. She was at last going to tell someone, anyone at all, about what has made spiral down this path of mournful feelings like fewer she's ever been through. While working up that effort to go, Carol laid her hand along Lori's back.

"Okay, I'm ready. Here I go…"

With another deep breath, Lori proceeded with her recount of what went down.

"So I never told you this the last time we talked prior to before we planned this meet up, but today was the day I had set off to visit Bobby in the city and spend some time with him…." She began explaining, "At first, everything was fine and lovely. We had a nice talk about how our respective family lives were going and how much we missed living closer together and such. Eventually after that, we chose to head on out into the city and simply spend some much needed time together. Unfortunately, this is where things started to take a turn literally for the worst."

Carol remained silent as Lori yet again took a moment to work some additional willpower. The closer she gets to the more woeful parts of it all, the harder it'll be for her to maintain a level composure. Still, she needed to press on if she's even going to fully recover on an emotional basis.

"To be fair, our day in the city didn't start off too bad. We took a nice stroll though the park and did have fulfilling meal at this cute little restaurant which Bobby spoke highly off. However, this restaurant was also where everything began to fall apart. After we were done eating, I went over to the restroom for a moment and by the time I came back, I saw Bobby acting very friendly with this other girl who suddenly had arrived. Right away, despite perhaps my better judgment, I assumed the worst and caused a huge scene by accusing him of seeing this girl behind my back in the times since he's moved away. He did admit to having been hanging around this girl a few times and insisted they were only friends and that he would never give a thought about dating someone else even with the distance between where we now lived. But at that moment, I wasn't having any of it, so I stormed out of the restaurant and back to the apartment building where he lived."

"Whoa, really? I'm guessing though that's not the end, is it?" Carol inquired.

"Nope, not even close. In fact, it gets worse." Lori responded.

She adjusted her seating to face Carol more directly as she prepared to divulge into the worst part of her day, no matter how hard it'll be to describe.

"So eventually, Bobby did catch up with me at the apartment and emphasized another time that this girl in question is only a friend and went on and on about he loved me. But again, I wasn't in the mood or thinking clearly and I went off on him once more reminding him about he shouldn't getting too close to any other girls because of how paranoid I'll admit to becoming whenever he does so much as talk to another girl. That's when he ended up getting mad and going off on me next, saying why I have to be so controlling of him like I have often been when he used to live here, to which I egotistically responded by reminding him how clueless he can act and that if it weren't for me who knows what would come of him. From there it just kept on escalating worse and worse, easily becoming the worst fight we ever had. Things got so out of hand to the point he straight up blurted out why we're even together in the first place and I called him an ungrateful git who's perhaps undeserving of my being. That's when he demanded I leave and I gladly did just that without even giving it a further thought."

Finally, after revealing what happened at long last, Lori released a very much shuddered sigh. For her part, Carol moved closer and placed an arm around her friend's shoulders.

"Jeez...I'm sorry to hear that, Lori. Do you have any idea where things stand between you and him now?" She wondered.

"Well, when I was driving back home, I didn't give it much thought for the most part." Lori conceded, "But there was a point where I thought about pulling to the side of the road and maybe calling or texting him, but I didn't believe he'd be in the mood to talk and I even genuinely feared it may have been too late, and that I figured I wrecked things between him and me."

Before her next thought, she shook her head and groaned.

"And let me be perfectly clear here, Carol...this whole debacle has to be literally my fault. I likely came to an irrational conclusion which lead to an unneeded fight that has may have almost single handedly tanked my relationship with Bobby to the point of no return. At least, that's what I thought until I learned he texted me some point after I came back home, and by 'learned' I mean my little brother Lincoln saw it first because he brought my phone up to me after I left it behind in the living room."

"And what did Bobby say may I ask?"

"Well...surprisingly he didn't sound angry or resentful, which I wouldn't have blamed him if he was. But anyway, he said perhaps the best thing for us after today is that we need to keep to ourselves for a while. However, despite saying he doesn't hope this happens, he clearly also implied that if things don't get better between us...well...I think you can catch my drift."

The metaphorical walls within Lori were on the verge of cracking and breaking down again. Tears welled up in her eyes and she began to sniffle, realizing the small yet still all too real possibility of Bobby no longer being a factor in her life.

"And if I'm being perfectly frank here again...if me and Bobby do, you know...end things to put it lightly...I'd totally get it from his perspective, even if it would completely break my heart should it happen. It's not even just because of today, though. I've come to realize that I've kind of always been sort of known to control, obsess over and monopolize his time, life and whatever little thing he does even well before he moved away. I had the gall to accuse him today of being ungrateful, yet before today, he never so much as raised a single objection to it. I don't know if it's because he was afraid to do so before or if he had enough kindness in his heart to see past my controlling behavior and see me for who I truly am behind that."

The tears started to flow out of her eyes as she no longer hid the fact of how much this was hurting her.

"But if Bobby does break up with me, where does that leave me? I've all but literally planned out my future adult life with him by my side. I see myself graduating from Fairway University, getting married to him and having a bunch of kids all while I have a successful worldwide golfing career. All of that could disappear in an instant should he think we're no longer comparable and in a sense, who could blame him should he make that choice after all that's happened today? It's just the worst example of how much of a...unpleasant person I've learned to understand I can be to him. Maybe I no longer deserve to be with him after all…"

And that finally did it. With one strained sob came a whole series of crying out of Lori. She turned her head in Carol's direction, burying her face into her friend's shoulder. In response, Carol enclosed her other arm around Lori to fully embrace her again.

As Lori let herself cry in Carol's arms, part of her thought just how surreal this moment felt. Just a few short weeks ago, she viewed this girl as her mortal enemy, as someone who came off like she thumbed Lori's nose at every possible turn with her accomplishments. But that couldn't have been further from the truth, as Carol admitted herself to actually seeing Lori as the superior of the two, thus proving the fact they more or less had the same issues regarding to feelings of insecurity. Since those same weeks in time, Lori as grown to see Carol as possibly the best friend she current has and right now, aside from her siblings, there was no one else she'd rather have to pour her heart, soul and emotions out to.

It took several minutes of heavy sobbing, but Lori did slowly calm down to the point that Carol could wish to speak to her more. She did use the time in consoling Lori to try in working out the right words worth using and though there were concerns they might not fully comfort her, it never hurts in saying something to give some uplifting hope.

"Well, let me say again I'm so sorry to hear all that and everything else, Lori…" Carol began telling her, "I can't imagine the pain and sorrow you're going though thinking there's a chance the boy you love and wish to spend the rest of your life with could possibly slip away from you. I can't exactly relate since I'm no relationship expert myself and whatever of such I've ever had myself hasn't last too long to give the best advice."

She chuckled a little over that last line, then she gave Lori a small smile and cupped one of her cheeks.

"But I think you have reason to be hopeful. Yes, what you've told me does sound awful and I'd bet there's some serious strains between you and Bobby at the moment, no doubt about it. But you've admitted yourself in that text he sent you that he'd hate it for you and him to split up and I'd argue that if you took up his suggestion of keeping to yourselves for a good little while, you'll come out of this better than before in due time."

"Really? You really think so?" Lori wondered through tears and sniffling.

"Well, again I'm no expert in this sort of thing, but even the best romances can stand to have some separation between them before coming back together better than ever." Carol replied, "I don't know, maybe I'm taking an overly optimistic route, but hey, better that than to think the worst could happen, right?"

Thought she couldn't deny that her friend's assessment of too much optimism, it didn't change the fact that Lori was real heartened to nonetheless get such a perspective from Carol. For her efforts, she earned herself another hug.

"Thank you, Carol, and I'm sorry for, well...everything." Lori told her.

"Oh, it's no problem at all, Lori. Just doing my job being there for my new bestie in her time of need." Carol said, hugging her back again.

"Actually...that's not entirely all that I was talking about." Lori said.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Carol asked, pulling away.

"I mean, well...I don't think I've ever told you this yet, but I feel so awful for all the times I've ever seen you as some sort of rival who I felt the need to always be jealous of and strive to top you at everything. But of course I've since learned that's not the case at all." Lori answered.

She placed both her hands on Carol's shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.

"You know, I'm going to be eternally thankful for the moment we ran into each other at the mall that one day and managed to clear everything up between us. I'd really hate to have ever lived the rest of life seeing you through nothing but scorn and bitterness. But because of that meeting, I'll never have to think about such thoughts, since I now see you as one of the best friends I've made in my life. Thank you so much for that, Carol."

Now it was Carol's turn for her own eyes to well up. She was so touched to hear such an assessment of how much their relationship had evolved from suspicion and disdain on Lori's end of things to the friendship that has grown substantially since that aforementioned meeting at the mall. She put one of her hands around one of Lori's wrists and the other on her shoulder.

"Wow, I...I...I don't what else really to say, Lori. I guess….thank you as well for being my friend, too. It really does mean a whole lot to me." She said.

She took both of her friend's hands into her own, helped her up to her feel and brought her into another fond and courteous hug, one that was given back with equal gratefulness.

"And I want to say again that in spite of whatever troubles you've had with Bobby, things will hopefully take their natural route to where you want them to be."

"That's what I hope for, too."

After another period of time in each others arms, they separated.

"Thank you for taking the time to come over and having this talk with me, Carol. This is exactly what I needed." Lori said.

"You're welcome, Lori. Anything for a friend, and don't forget also you have a loving group of ten siblings by your side, too. That's something about you I've always found admirable like I've told you before." Carol mentioned with a smile.

"Yeah, that's true. Even though my job is to be there for them whenever they need, I'm grateful that they'll do the same for me should the shoe be on the other foot." Lori said, chuckling a little.

"True." Carol agreed, "Hey, you know what? Since you mentioned earlier about that encounter at the mall, how about a quick selfie just for the heck of it before I go?"

"Really? I mean, I don't know if I'm literally in the best of conditions for such with all the crying I've done and also the fact that I don't have my phone handy with me right now." Lori noted.

"Hey, we don't have to _always_ look our best, and I can send you the pic once it's taken. So come on, what do you say? Is my fellow selfie queen _really_ going to turn down this offer?" Carol said teasingly.

"Oh...okay, sure, but only because you just called me a 'selfie queen' now". Lori responded with self-assured grin.

"Now _there's_ the girl I've gotten to know better these past few weeks!" Carol said proudly.

Taking her phone out and holding away just enough, Carol put her arm around Lori while at the same time Lori wrapped her arms around Carol's waist, resting her head along her friend's shoulder on top of that. With both of them in position, Carol took the selfie, then she immediately worked her fingers into overdrive.

"All right, post...and…it's also been sent to your phone as well." She said.

"Thanks...and thanks once again for coming over and having this talk with me, Carol. You really helped me out a great deal here." Lori told her.

"It was my pleasure, Lori. Well, I guess with all that said and done, I suppose I'll be on my way now." Carol said.

"Sure, go right ahead. See you around then."

"You, too. Bye, Lori."

With that final exchange, Carol turned around and proceeded to make the walk back home, though she did look back over one more time to share a wave with Lori. On her end, Lori stood on by until Carol had left her field of vision and then chose to head on back inside her house as well.

Upon her stepping back inside, Lori checked over and saw that her siblings were still indeed in the living room.

"Hi, Lori! Welcome back!" Lynn greeted her, "And don't worry, we upheld our word in not listening or anything, so don't try to get up on our case thinking we might've tried to."

"Well, that's good to know." Lori said.

"So...how are things anyway? You do look and sound a little bit better." Luan noted.

"I do actually, and I think that talk with Carol really did the trick to a good degree." Lori responded.

"That's is good to hear, but not to sound pushy or anything…" Lincoln began saying.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you want to finally hear what happened and why I was how I was." Lori said to interrupt her brother, "Listen, the most I'll say right now since it's still sort of a sore subject to fully expand on and I'm not prepared to break down again reliving every last detail, but I will say that Bobby and I had literally the worst fight we've ever had, I'll freely admit that most of it was my own fault and yes, our relationship is not in a good place at the moment."

Upon hearing this more abridged version of events, the siblings gasped, muttered worriedly and expressed their sympathies in the direction of their oldest sister.

"But listen, thanks to Carol's help, I do have a mostly optimistic view of things. Yes, it hurts now, but I think this is just really, really big snag that can be dealt with. For now, I'm going with what Bobby suggested in that text I guessing all of you are aware of and keep to ourselves until enough time had passed and we're ready to resume. But anyway, I want to thank you all for your concerns and will always love and appreciate you for that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take care of little bit of business and I'll be right on back."

Lori bounded up the stairs and into her room where she immediately went to her phone. First, she checked and saw the selfie Carol took had been sent as promised. She also noticed a caption had been put on it.

_Always good to be there for a friend in need_.

A wide smile forming on her lips, Lori couldn't have agreed more. So much so, when she took that selfie and posted it on her own social media accounts, she added her own short, sweet and to the point comment attached to it.

_So true! Thanks again._

After she was done with that, Lori decided to return her attention back to that text Bobby sent her. Thought it was still a heartrending read, she felt more hopeful than before that things will turn for the better. In fact, she decided to send a return text.

_You know, maybe it is for the best if we kept to ourselves for a while. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. Here's indeed we can literally hope for the best in due time._

The moment she sent that, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. That last lingering sense of despair had dissipated, believing like with many other things, time will indeed heal all wounds between them.

Finally, Lori put her phone to the side and went back downstairs to at long last rejoin with her siblings to return in bonding with them. Like she told them before, she'll be forever thankful to have them in her life, and additionally, she'll also be eternally grateful to also have a wonderful friend in Carol as well who she can equally rely on for help, comfort and just about anything else she could ever ask for.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, the feels of all sorts, varieties and variations...
> 
> Some more thoughts before you head out. When the idea for this story first came to mind quite a while back, I had originally went all in with the idea of Lori and Bobby breaking up. However, I decided against that to put some ambiguous tentative hope between them despite the troubled waters their relationship may currently be in.
> 
> The other thing is that this is actually going to be the start of a new series of stories with Carol in a feature role, though I've yet come up with a title for it. I was planning on calling it "The Pingrey Trilogy" since I had three in mind at first, but it could likely very well become a quartet, quintet or even more when all's said and done. Once I figure that out I'll settle on a title and it'll be made official within the section of my profile on FanFiction.net that showcases my stories.
> 
> Now, having admitting this, there's a chance some of you may think the direction of such a series is that Lori and Bobby may potentially break up anyway, which will then perhaps open the door for something more between Lori and Carol as a result. To that I say...you could possibly be half right, but also half wrong at the same time. You see, the next idea I have for the series will zig to a different zag, but you'll have to wait until maybe a couple months before then. Got a whole other bunch of other stuff to work on in between on top of that as well, so that's the reason for why that may be the case.
> 
> All right, well with that all said and done, thank you so much for the read, support and all that additional jazz. As usual, until the next time, see you later!


End file.
